3.07

“I was just wondering if this was the right bit for what I needed done?” Harold had finally made his way to Hammer Chest to get the drill bits he needed to build the decking he had always said he was going to.

Hammer Chest was a large global franchise that focussed on selling all things hardware for all DIY projects. Their shops were large buildings designed to look like toolchests.

“Well, that depends on what you’re trying to do with it.” Behind the counter was a pimple-faced, exasperated teen who was paying more attention to their phone than to the customer.

“Like I said, I am building a decking around my house. Made out of timber. If you don’t get off your phone, I’ll talk to your manager.” The teen raised their eyebrows and put the phone down.

“All right old man. Just keep it chill.” The worker took the drill bit from Harold and turned it over in his hand.

“Is it the right bit I need?” Harold tapped his fingers on the counter and started to tap his foot.

“Well that depends, what are you doing?”

“I’ve told you already. I’m building a timber deck around my house and I need to know if this is the bit that’ll do the job.” Frustration rose in Harold’s voice. He was yelling by the end of his sentence.

“I know what you said, but that doesn’t give me enough information to go with. I need to know the model and size of your drill. I also need to know what timber you’ll be using. The type and the thickness.” The teen handed the drill bit back and pulled out his phone again. Harold’s face started steaming. He was not going to be shown up by some teen.

“Where’s your manager?” Harold’s face had turned bright red. Drops of frustrated sweat started to roll down his face.

“I dunno.” The teen shrugged their shoulders but did not take their eyes off their phone.

“Look here,” Harold reached for the teen’s phone. He snatched it away and had a quick look at the screen. The teen was scrolling through Chatter, something Harold despised.

“Hey, you can’t do that.”

“Yes, I can. I’m the customer and you’re not doing anything to help me. Too busy on your phone. I’m the reason you even have a job, now help me.”

“Will you give my phone back if I help you?”

“Yes.”

“What’s the model and size of the drill you are using? And what type of timber? And what is the thickness of the timber?”

“I don’t know.” Harold puffed his chest.

“Then I can’t help you. I could say yes, but then it’ll probably be the wrong one. Then you’ll go home and ruin your deck and come back and blame me because you know nothing that you need to be able to drill timber.” The teen’s voice rose in volume to match Harold’s.

“You’re supposed to be able to tell me what I need!” Harold spluttered.

“Not if you don’t know anything. I’m not a mind reader.” At that moment, a tiger wearing overalls approached the two of them.

“What seems to be the problem here?” She looked at her employee and then at the customer.

“This kid here isn’t helping me out at all.” Harold shouted with such ferocity, that spittle flew out of his mouth. He dropped the phone, and everyone could hear the shatter of the screen.

Before the manager had a chance to reply, all the lights flickered off. Dim sunlight still made its way through the glass doors, but it wasn’t enough to light up the whole shop.

“What’s going on?” called out a customer.

“Its all right. The generator will kick in, right about now.” As the manager said this, the lights flickered back on and the hum of the generator stirred through the awkward silence that had fallen on the shop.

Within moments, the lights flickered out again and the generator stopped making any noise. The crowds of customers stampeded to the exits, people fell over and were crushed underneath.

“Don’t panic please. We need to remain calm. People get hurt otherwise.” The manager used a torch function on her phone and waved it for everyone to see. Some customers had made it to the doors, but they wouldn’t open.

Strange noises echoed through the shops. In the faint light, everyone watched as the hanging lights that were scattered through the shop, all fell and shattered on the cement floor.

“This isn’t funny,” one customer screamed.

“Please, this isn’t something we planned. If we can all remain calm, I can figure out what’s going on.”

“There’s nothing to figure out.” A cackling laughter rose up in the crowd of customers and everyone turned as a man in a white lab coat stepped out from everyone.

Electricity arced and came to a halt next to him, revealing a small battery robot that stood about knee height.

“I’m just testing me newest inventions, and they are performing perfectly.” Everyone watched in fright as another robot joined him. This one floated around his head and the manager realised it was a traditional ceiling fan that had a small face in the middle. Even from here, she could tell the blades were razor sharp.

“Excuse me, I’m the manager of this place. Why are you attacking us?” The tiger manager took a few steps toward Inventor Pete.

“Attacking? Have I brought harm to anyone? No. I am merely testing my robots here.”

“Then what do you plan on doing with them, and with us?” The manager nodded at the robots and then to the customers.

“Won’t someone please think of the children?” wailed another customer.

“That depends on what’s about to happen in the next few minutes.” Inventor Pete started to laugh again.

“What do you mean?” the manager asked.

“By the time I finish this sentence, one of those superheroes should have responded to your panic alarm.”

With perfect timing, a costumed hero crashed through one of the side windows.

“Ah, it’s not who I was hoping. Still, it’ll be good testing.” Inventor Pete held out his arms and his two robots charged the hero.